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The English baritone, choral conductor and record producer, Gabriel Crouch, began his musical career as an eight-year-old in the Westminster Abbey Choir. He became the Head Chorister of that choir and even had a solo at the wedding of HRH Prince Andrew and Miss Sarah Ferguson. He attended the University of Cambridge where he read Geography and completed a choral scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge (under Dr Richard Marlow).
After his studies, Gabriel Crouch co-founded and directed the male vocal ensemble Henry's Eight, with whom he undertook a series of tours and recordings (for Hyperion) of music of the Flemish Renaissance.). He held the second baritone position in the King's Singers for eight years, from 1996 to 2004, , the post formerly held by Simon Carrington. He made with them a dozen recordings on the BMG label (including a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Crossover Album in 2001), and gave more than 900 performances in almost every major concert venue in the world, from New York’s Lincoln Center to the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Special collaborative projects saw him working and performing with some of the world’s most respected artists, including percussionist Evelyn Glennie, pianists Emanuel Ax and George Shearing, singer Barbara Hendricks and ‘Beach Boy’ Bruce Johnston. In 2002, he planned and coordinated, in partnership with the Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, a special Jubilee concert in the Royal Albert Hall featuring seven newly commissioned works by Britain's leading composers and poets, all performed by the King's Singers and televised by the BBC. He has also performed and recorded with Polyphony (Director: Stephen Layton), Tenebrae (Director: Nigel Short), and Cambridge Singers (Director: John Rutter) among others.
In 2006, Gabriel Crouch moved to the USA and was appointed Director of Choral Ensembles at DePauw University in Indiana. He currently is a Director of Choral Activities and Senior Lecturer in Music at Princeton University. He directs the Princeton Glee Club and Chamber Choir and the early music ensemble Gallicantus. He has built an international profile as a conductor and director, with recent engagements in China and Australia as well as Europe and the USA. He has been Musical Director of Gallicantus since its inception in 2008, with whom he has released four recordings under the Signum Classics label to rapturous reviews, garnering ‘Editor’s Choice’ accolades in Gramophone and Early Music Review, and, for the 2012 release "The Word Unspoken", a place on BBC Radio’s CD Review list of the top nine classical releases of the year.
When the academic calendar allows, Gabriel Crouch maintains parallel careers in singing and record production, crossing the Atlantic frequently to appear with such ensembles as Tenebrae and Gabrieli Consort (Director: Paul McCreesh), and in the USA, performing recitals of lutesong with such acclaimed lutenists as Daniel Swenberg and Nigel North.
Gabriel Crouch has recorded and produced numerous records for many major labels, most notably BMI and Hyperion. In January 2008, the Gabrieli Choir’s CD "The Road to Paradise", which Crouch produced, was nominated for the title of ‘Best Choral Recording’ in the BBC Music Awards. As a producer his latest credits have included Winchester Cathedral Choir, Gabrieli Consort and Tenebrae.
Gabriel Crouch has developed a passion for choral coaching and the nurturing of student choirs, and since leaving the King's Singers he has thrown himself into educational work alongside his continuing singing career. He has given workshops in the USA both independently and with the King's Singers, notably at ACDA, SPEBSQSA, Amerifest and MENC conventions, with the Harlem Boys Choir and at a special festival of 10 high school choirs in Dallas. This year he served as guest conductor and vocal coach at the Feliciana International Choral Festival and prepared four New Jersey high school ensembles for performances in front of former President Clinton. Across the Atlantic, Gabriel has given a 4-day series of workshops to choirs from across Europe at the Schleswig Holstein Festival in northern Germany (2001 and 2003), has been part of the Ensemble in Residence at London's Royal College of Music, and he now regularly coaches around a dozen young professional groups across the European continent. In 2012, he has conducted at Choral Festivals in Washington DC (Chorworks Festival), Illinois (ECICF festival), Oregon, and at the University of Queensland’s Renaissance Choral Festival in Brisbane, Australia. His achievements in the choral world have led to many invitations to adjudicate choral competitions, notably the mixed choir final of 'Sainsbury's Choir of the Year' (televised by the BBC), and in 2004, he adjudicated every round of the "Vereins und Westbank Jugend Kulturell A Cappella" competition in Germany. His work as a singer, coach and musical director has led to his name appearing in the London Times’ list of ‘Great British Hopes’. |
